Although not typical Daryl B., this composite combines two unique events in his career. The aircheck begins with the only time that CKLG ever made #1 in the official Canadian BBM (Board of Broadcast Measurement) ratings for Vancouver: the broadcast of the original History of Rock & Roll during Ratings Week. Not a small feat, considering it marks the only time in more than 45 years that information station CKNW was not #1.
The remainder of this composite is Daryl’s only guest appearance on CKLG-FM, doing the second of three monthly specials that the station did using AM DJs. Events dictated the topic: supergroup Buffalo Springfield had just broken up on May 5. Daryl knew group member Neil Young through his best friend Rick Honey, who played in a Winnipeg garage band with Neil, hence the “we” references during the special. Because the original recording was made for the music, not as an aircheck, the commercials were removed, which accounts for the awkward transition between certain sentences: there was actually a commercial in between.
Daryl Burlingham came to Vancouver and CFUN in late 1965 from CKY Winnipeg, having previously been at CKRC Winnipeg and CFQC Saskatoon. In March 1967, he moved to CKLG, staying until he got the opportunity to join CKLW Windsor near the end of 1969. But he missed the West Coast and returned to CKLG in August 1970, moving back to CFUN shortly after CHUM Toronto bought them in 1973, then to CHUM itself in the early ’80s until Post Polio Syndrome forced his retirement.
Even if you do not remember the distinctive voice, you always knew it was Daryl because he ended his show with the phrase “Stay out of Trees”. This CKLG-FM broadcast may be the only time in his career that he did not say it.
CKLG-AM had just celebrated its 10th anniversary when it changed format from The Foreground Sound to Top 40 on August 22, 1964, the day the Beatles first came to Vancouver. Lloyd Moffat had purchased the station in 1961, but his unexpected death earlier in 1964 left his young song Randy with 8 radio stations across Western Canada that he quickly changed to Top 40. CKLG remained with its format and call letters until it became the All News sister station to CKNW on February 1, 2001.
Meanwhile, the Muzak-inspired Foreground Sound moved to CKLG-FM, still unable to compete against CHQM’s dominance in that format. In 1967, LG-FM tested the appeal of an Underground format with a weekly program of New World African music, as host Bill Reiter likes to call it. Groovin’ Blue expanded to daily and, by early 1968, the station hired John Runge from CKUA Edmonton as Music Director and went Underground full-time. They explored the full range of the format, even playing some classical, but eventually settled into progressive rock — popular cuts from popular rock LPs — before self-destructing in the mid-’70s in a failed unionization attempt. Their focus and call letters changed to CFOX shortly after.
At age 58, Daryl B. passed away February 27, 2001, in Winnipeg, having suffered a massive stroke shortly after hearing of Rick Honey’s death. Rick spent most of his career, more than 20 years, at CKNW, where he was usually heard on afternoon drive. CKNW hired him from CKLG during a period of recruiting top young local radio personalities. Rick started out at 16 at CJOB Winnipeg, then to Northern Ontario and the Maritimes before CKLG. Rick died in Vancouver after a long battle with throat cancer February 24, 2001, at the age of 54. His last air shift was morning drive Feb. 22 on CKBD Vancouver.
